Bhopal: The Bhopal District Court on Saturday extended the judicial remand of four Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists and one of their accomplices arrested from Bhopal and Kolkata, till April 24. Though the perpetrators were arrested by the STF, the case has now been shifted to the NIA which is soon to arrive in Bhopal and take charge. The team will also further decide whether the five accused will be kept in Bhopal Central Jail or taken along to Delhi with the team.
Earlier, the Bhopal STF arrested four JMB terrorists from Ashoka Garden area, while the fifth one was arrested in Kolkata after the team traced him through the initial arrests. The fifth accused reportedly funded the four in Bhopal from Howrah. Another helper named Abdul Karim was also arrested from the Nishatpura police station area earlier, while his bail application was presented in the district court. The court subsequently refused to grant him the bail, with all of the arrested now in Bhopal Central Jail.
After the arrests, several other agencies interrogated the terrorists which further revealed that they are in connection with 50 more terrorists involved in the operation. It is also suspected that the terrorists are trying to expand their network in Madhya Pradesh. Taking into consideration the gravity of the matter, the case is to be taken over by the NIA in the next couple of days.
In retrospect, attacks like the 2014 bomb blast in West Bengal's Vardhaman wherein two people were killed, and the 2018 bomb blast in Bodh Gaya had alerted the state government to be vigilant about such attacks. The government also tightened some laws in 2019 in the purview of more such attacks. Owing to the restrictions, the terrorist organizations are actively trying to design and execute sleeper cell bombs in different areas of the country, the ATS officers informed.
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